Irish songs of James Joyce by Irish guitarist John Feeley (L) and Joycean expert and singer Fran O’Rourke

Dozens of people dressed up in Joycean vintage outfits, strolled through the city of Shanghai and paused to read passages from Joyce’s Ulysses on June 17, 2017. Besides that, they enjoyed a Bloomsday brunch as well as traditional Irish music.

It was the 13th year that the Irish Consulate and the Irish community in Shanghai joined together with the people of Shanghai to celebrate Bloomsday in Shanghai.

Kids dressed up in Joycean vintage outfits

Bloomsday celebrates Thursday 16 June 1904, which is the day depicted in the novel Ulysses written by the Irish novelist and poet James Joyce. The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the central character in Ulysses.

Bloomsday is observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere, involving a range of cultural activities, such as Ulysses readings and dramatisations, pub-crawls and other events.

The reader Steven is Northern Irish. He has been living in Shanghai for 16 years and has been an active participant in Irish activities.

The participants also included those who studied in Ireland. Dr. N studied & worked in Dublin for 6 years. Now she lives in Shanghai. “The Bloomsday brunch brings back a lot of great memories of Dublin”, she said.

The vintage roaming started from the Dongchang Road ferry in Pudong and finally arrived at a pub in the southwestern zone of Shanghai, with stops at the lighthouse on the Bund and the 16th Dork area (near East Zhongshan No. 2 Rd and Xinkaihe Rd).

Around midday the participants enjoyed a Bloomsday brunch - Irish Ulysses-inspired foods as well as traditional Irish music and Joyce songs performed by acclaimed Irish classical guitarist John Feeley and Joycean expert and singer Fran O’Rourke.

The students from Shanghai University (the above photo) and Shanghai Normal University read passages at the Bloomsday celebration.